The Green Bay Packers dealt pass-rusher Rashan Gary to the Dallas Cowboys this offseason, and the former first-round pick is headed to training camp with a fire for the game that wasn’t always apparent in his play while donning the green and gold.
Gary spoke with Joseph Hoyt of “The Dallas Morning News” on Friday, July 17 and summed up his initiative for 2026, and the remainder of his pro football career, with five simple words.
“I’m trying to be great,” Gary said.
The 28-year-old edge defender then elaborated on that position.
“I’m not just here to say I played in the NFL,” Gary continued. “I want to be a dominant factor. When I hang up my cleats, I want people to say, ‘Man, Rashan Gary was blah, blah, blah,’ whatever the case may be. It’s my legacy, it’s what I’m going to leave my kids. It’s bigger than me now.”
Rashan Gary Grew too Expensive for Packers After 2 Moderate Years of Production
GettyFormer Green Bay Packers edge-rusher Rashan Gary.
Gary has put together a successful career across seven years in the league, though he has failed to live up to his first-round draft status in 2019 (No. 12 overall).
All told, Gary has appeared in 106 regular season games, earning 74 starts. He has tallied 111 quarterback hits, 46.5 sacks, 46 tackles for loss, eight fumble recoveries, seven forced fumbles and six pass breakups. He has also earned one Pro Bowl nod following the 2024 campaign.
Despite his relatively consistent production (between 6.0-9.5 sacks in each of the past five seasons), the Packers put Gary on the trade block this spring. Green Bay ended up getting a fourth-round pick in its deal with the Cowboys in March, which some analysts found surprising because the team would have likely cut Gary absent a trade suitor emerging.
Even though Gary still has reasonable on-field value, his cost-to-production ratio had grown high for a Packers team that traded away two first-round picks and defensive tackle Kenny Clark to the Cowboys in August 2025 for edge-rusher Micah Parsons, whom Green Bay then paid $186 million on a new four-year extension.
Dealing Gary to Dallas with two years remaining on his $96 million deal cleared $11 million in 2026 salary cap space for the Packers, who currently have just shy of $23.4 million to add to the roster before the regular season begins in mid-September.
Packers May Spend Some of Money Saved in Rashan Gary Trade to Replace Him
GettyGreen Bay Packers edge-rusher Lukas Van Ness.
Coincidentally, the money Green Bay opened up by dealing Gary may be used to replace him.
Parsons continues recovering from an ACL tear he suffered in December of 2025 and has said publicly that he expects to miss the first month of the season. It is possible that he could sit out even longer than that.
With Gary gone, Lukas Van Ness is the top option off the edge for the Green Bay defense, but he has underperformed since the Packers selected him No. 13 overall in 2023.
The team could turn to a veteran in free agency like Jadeveon Clowney on a short-term contract, or it could look to make a bigger move via a trade for a player like Alex Highsmith of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
To this point, however, Green Bay has not appeared overly eager to address what is clearly one of its major roster deficiencies heading into training camp at the end of this month.
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